The EU dislikes nation-states at home and abroad

Say what you like about the EU, at least it's consistent. Just as it has sought to eliminate the nation-state within its own borders, so it projects that same ideology at its neighbours. The truth, of course, is that national units have been, historically, the surest vessels of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Ideologies that presume to be larger than the nation – fascism, communism, Islamic fundamentalism, Euro-federalism – have a funny way of ending in authoritarianism.